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Mike McKenna cannot drive, so he can no longer work as a building contractor. Every two weeks he experiences a major epileptic seizure, and every day he has smaller seizures.

Medications have not worked to slow McKenna's seizures, and surgery on the part of the brain where his seizures originate would be risky.

So doctors at Mayo Clinic are trying electricity instead, in the form of a small electrical stimulation device implanted under his scalp. When the device senses unusual brain activity, it fires off a shock to his brain.

Because McKenna is using the stimulation device in a clinical trial, he does not know if his device is turned on or off. But if the device proves safe and effective among patients in the trial, it may offer hope that McKenna, and others who have seizures that don't respond to treatment, can reclaim his life.